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Quiznos, Taco Del Mar parent names culinary directorQuiznos, Taco Del Mar parent names culinary director

Qdoba veteran Mike Gieseman will lead menu development at Rego Restaurant Group

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

May 2, 2019

2 Min Read
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The parent company of Quiznos and Taco Del Mar has named Mike Gieseman its director of culinary innovation.

Denver-based Rego Restaurant Group, a subsidiary formed by private equity firm High Bluff Capital Partners to run the two chains when it bought them last summer, said in a press release that Gieseman would be “responsible for reinvigorating the menus of Quiznos and Taco Del Mar by developing craveable items that are operationally achievable.”

Mike_Gieseman-Quiznos-Taco-Del-Mar .pngGieseman (left) has spent the past couple of years as a culinary consultant. Before that he was at Qdoba Restaurant corporation for 11 years as its manager of research and development.

“Mike brings a tremendous understanding of the culinary experience our guests are seeking when they step into one of our restaurants,” Rego chief brand officer Mark Lohmann said in the release. “As the leader of our culinary center of excellence, his consumer insights-driven methodology is a major competitive advantage for our portfolio of turnaround brands as we continue to drive a transformational agenda. Even if the menus at each of our restaurants are drastically different, the notion of fully understanding what the guest craves is a central driver across brands.”

Lohmann was named Rego’s brand officer in February.

Gieseman has already developed his first limited-time offer for Taco Del Mar, the Lobster and Seafood Taco, made with chilled lobster salad, cilantro, onions and serrano peppers over shredded cabbage in a tortilla, topped with pico de gallo and the chain’s signature white sauce.

For Quiznos, Rego indicated that Gieseman was working on new items with brisket and prime rib.

“I’m incredibly excited to add the next premium items and look forward to adding more quality recipes that guests will love,” Gieseman said. “If we look back to understand what’s worked and what hasn’t, we see that we don’t need to come up with some over-the-top, crazy concoction. Instead, our consumers want simple, back-to-basics recipes that meet their cravings.”

Gieseman and Lohmann are just the latest additions to Rego’s leadership team. Industry veteran Tim Casey was appointed the new company’s CEO at the beginning of the year.

Though most recently with Inspire Brands subsidiary Rusty Taco, Casey also was president of Qdoba for three years when Gieseman worked there, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.

Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications. 

He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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